Fountain pens



May 9, 1961 D. J. SILVER FOUNTAIN PENS Filed April 22, 1959 U i ed States am O FOUNTAIN PENS Derrick John Silver, Letchworth, England, assignor to Mentmore Manufacturing Co. Limited, London, England, a company of Great Britain This invention relates to fountain pens of the kind (hereinafter referred to as the kind specified) m which capillary action alone is utilised for filling the ink reservoir, for retaining ink therein and for feeding ink from the reservoir to a writing surface when the pen is in use, the reservoir being provided with a filling composed of woven, knitted or other fabric formed from fibres which may be either capable or incaple of themselves.

absorbing ink. Thefilling maybe in the form of a stack of discs cut from the fabric, for example.

It is usual in such pens to provide a wick of braided or woven fibres which is in close contact with the nib of the pen and also with the ink-storing filling of the reservoir, this wick performing the function of the feed-bar in a fountain pen of the well-known form which is adapted to be filled with ink by suction of some other means not replying solely oncapillary action.

This wick-free is not entirely satisfactory because the rate of travel of the ink along the same is much lower than can be secured with a conventional feed-barand because the material of the wick-feed is liable to become progressively less absorbent during the life of the pen due to clogging of its interstices with sold constituents of the ink. In addition, the high degree of capillarity of the wick-feed necessitates greater accuracy in the formation of the slit in the nib, which slit must be narrower than is required in most conventional pens.

The chief difliculty in attempting to provide a feed-bar formed from a solid material such as vulcanite or one of the plastics for use in a penof the kind specified stems from the necessity for matching the ink-feed channels or grooves of the feed-bar. to the capillary filling of the reservoir in such a way that free and easy transfer of ink from the one to the other. can occur. The dimensional matching of the width of the. channels or grooves to the capillary filling has proved to be so critical'that no commercially satisfactory feed-bars have yet been produced for such pens.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a solution of this difliculty.

According to the invention a solid feed-bar for a fountain pen of the kind specified is formed in at least two separate parts which are placed together side-by-side to leave a longitudinally extending capillary ink-feeding gap between them and the transverse dimension of the gap is determined by sandwiching between the adjacent faces of the parts a sheet of the fabric to be employed to consitute the filling of the reservoir of the pen.

In this way it is ensured that the capillarity of the inkfeeding gap provided by the assembled feed-bar is closely similar to the capillarity of the filling for the reservoir so that ink will pass freely from the gap to the filling and vice versa. Moreover, the ink will travel at a sufficiently high rate along the feed-bar to ensure that an adequate supply of ink is always available at the nib slit whenever the pen is required for use.

The filling of the reservoir may be a stack of a large number of discs formed from an ink-absorbent material, 7

2,983,254 Patented May 9, 196 1 which are themselves incapable of absorbing ink, such as nylon fibres. The nib section of the pen may be filled with a spirally rolled length of fabric instead of with stacked discs. This rolled length may be wound around a portion of the feed-bar and may constitute an extension of the sheet of fabric sandwiched between the parts of the bar.

The co-operating parts of the feed-bar according to theinvention may be held in assembled relation by inserting them into the mouth of the nib section or they may be secured togetherby any suitable means so that the feed-bar may be handled conveniently as a unit.

An example of a fountain pen embodying the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a longitudinal section of the pen with its nib-protecting cap removed,

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line IlI-III of Fig. 1,

Fig. '4 is a front elevation showing the two parts of the feed-bar embodied in the pen of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a side elevation of one of the parts showing the inner face thereof,

Fig. 6 is a front elevation showing the parts of Fig. 4 as they would appear when in position in the pen, and

Fig. 7 is a section taken-on .the line VII-VII of Fig. 1. Y a

The fountain .penshown comprises a barrel 1 and nib-section 2 which are connected together at a screwthreadedjoint 3 with the interposition of a-ring 4 .for engagement by the cap of the pen when this is applied. The barrel 1 is closedat the end remote from the joint 3 and has a portion-ofits length filled with a stack of fabric discs.5 held in place between retaining rings 6 .each having one of the fabric discs secured thereto. The

inner ring 6 abuts against shoulder '7 formed between the wall of the fabric-filled portion of the barrel 1 and the wall of a slightly narrower air chamber 8 which is yet of such a cross-sectional area that ink cannot form a stable menisfilling offabric in the form of. a spiral roll 11 which has its. one end in firm contact with the endmost disc .5 of the stack in the barrel 1 and its other end-in contact with the inner'end face of a feed-barcomposed of two ,cooperating parts. 12a and 1%.,

The parts of the' feed-bar, when placed together with their flat inner faces facing each other but spaced apart ,by a short distance corresponding to the desired width of a capillary ink-feeding passage, produce a feed-bar resembling that of a conventional fountain pen. There is a portion extending forwards from an annular collar 13 which is of substantially cylindrical shape at 14, adjacent to the collar but is tapered off from one side towards its tip to produce the inclined face 15. Extending rearwards from the collar 13 is a substantially cylindrical rod-like portion 16 of smaller diameter than the forward portion and'of a length approximately equal to that of the cavity in the nib-section which is filled by the rolled fabric 11. g t

In order that the width of the capillary ink-feeding passage 17 left between the two parts of the feed-bar may be correctly matched to the capillary fillingll of the nibsection, the spacing apart of the two parts 12a, 12b of the feed-baris determined by sandwiching between them a layer of the fabric utilised for making'this filling. Al-

though the sandwiched layer of fabric could be arranged to extend for the full'length ofthecapil'lary passage '17, it is preferred to arrange it at the rearward end only of rth sdso thath sa e 1 a b w d towards theftip of the feed-bar by 'pressiri'gftl e garner the latter together.

1 111 t rexamr e i l t t ffl s i f ed y of fabric is'the inner 'endlla bfthe'foll 11. The fabric being rolled around the rod-like part 16 of thecomposite feed-bar and the capillary passage '17 bein'gfilled with the sandwiched layer from the free end of the ozirt lo down to the collar 13. V

, The two parts of, the feed-bar could be secured together by "any suitable meansbut afpreferred anrangefinent i that illustrated. In this case the nib'end of the nib-section is formed with antaxially dire'cte dfcylindrical passage 18 adapted to ireceive the cylindrical forward portion 14 f the feed-bar together with the shank of the r 9'a a t r s l t-i Thai di 'r i d into "the nib-section 12 }through v the screwgthreaded end thereof and. advanced until the nib 19 can lie-positioned on the projecting tapered forward end of the bar from the nib end of the nib-section. The bar is thenfforcedhoine'an d the tight grip' exerted 'on theforward end of the bar, by the encircling 'portion of the nib-section causes the tips of the-parts 12a and 1 2bto come into contact, a consequent progressive narrowing ofth'e capillarypassage "-17 along the length'thereoffrom the zone where its width is determined by the sandwiched layerlla'of fabric. v U The collar 13 formsa'stop limiting the extent to which the'feed-bar may be forced throughlthe passage 18 in the nib-section and the nib 19 is naturally arranged on the feed-bar so that the passage17 in the latter extends V longitudinally beneath the iisualfslit in the nib with its onepair of edges spaced but -a"short distance from the edges of the nib-slit, shown, thispair of edges :ofthe passage 17 are rabbeted from the collar 13 almost to the free endof'the feed-bar in'order to form an auxiliary V capillary channel 20 beneath the nib. I h

h It will be underst 'd'tha t'the: fountain pen 'isIfi-lledwith 'a charge of ink merely by immersing the 'nib and feed-bar in a supply ofthe ink for a suflicient periodoftime the iink being elevated into the interstices of the fabric 'fillings 5 and 11 by capillary action. The'c'apillarity of the pas fsage '17 in the feedbar is 'closely'similar to that of the fabric fillings and pass freely from thep'z'issage to the filling and vice'versa WhatIclaimis: g I I I l. A multi-partite feed forthem'bof'ja capillary fountain pen having' an ink-storing space filledwithsheet fabfric formed from fibres'by weaving, knittingand like oper- "ations,'comprising a firsfpart constitutedfby 'a sheet of f said fabric disposed so that its medial plane bisects the nib longitudinally and two'separate solid p'artsdisposed one at each side of said firstivart and eachextending channel beneath the nib beneathand'in-closecontact with s-aid'nib, each solid part having a plane face in close contact with the respective adjacent surface of said first'partso that said faces define between them a capillary ink-feeding gap of a width determined by the thickness'of said first part.

2. A capillary r untaiapen having an ink-storing space filled with sheeFfabricforihed-from fibres by weaving, knitting and like operations and )3 nib to be fed with ink frohrsaid' space, including ink-feeding means of multifacesrdcfine between them acapillary ink-feeding gap of a 'a width determined bythethicknessfof saidfirst part.

, '3. A multi-partitefeed forfa nib'of a capillary fount ain pen having an ink storin'g space "adjacent the nib filled'with a spirally rolledisheet' of an-open-mesh'fabric, 'coinprising'two separate solidlpfits' extending at one end within the first convolutionofsaid'spirally'rolled sheet and at the other end beiiieathsaid nib, plane faces on said solid parts facing each [other and parallel to a medial 'plane bis'ecting said nib longitudinally, and a third part constituted by the end ,poi'ti'on'of said first convolution Tclamped between said planefaces-at said one end of said solid parts-to space said faces apart by the thicknessof said end portion whereby said faces define a capillary ink-feeding gap whichY-at otherend of said solidparts extends longitudinal-ly'beneath saidnib.

'4. A multi-partite, feed accordinglto claim '3, wherein said sol-id parts exfendthrou'ghian' aperture inja' casing partof the fountain penjand are tightly wedgedin said aperture to urge said plane'fac es into clamping relation with said'third'part. V 5. A'multi-partitefeed-according to claim 3, wherein said 'plane faces of said s'olid parts are'rabbeted at said other end of said pants to form an auxiliary capillary References Cited thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 679,790 Stewart Aug.6,'l901 1,493,680 KoepSel] May 13,1924 2,019,734 I Sager Nov. 5, 1935 2,642,043 Miessner Julie 16, 1953 2,690,739 Weigel Oct. 5, 1954- 2',782,763 Zodtner Feb. '26, 1957 1,811,947 'Rigondaud NOV. 7, 1957 2,921,558 Von P1-aten 15111.19, 1960 2,935,968 Morse et al M ay 10, 1960 

